Page 553 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 9 March 2011
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In summary, the government proposes an amendment at section 727EA that requires the committee to take all reasonable steps to avoid being placed in a position where a conflict of interest arises during their exercise of the committee’s functions.
A further amendment under amendment 5 is to clause 4 through new section 727EB regarding the appointment of advisers. The bill is silent regarding the appointment of advisers to the committee, and government considers that it is an important issue requiring inclusion in legislation. While the expertise of the committee members will be broad and of a high level, the government believes the committee members may not all have the expertise and experience required all of the time. There may be issues arising from time to time which require specific expertise—for example, cultural practices, engineering matters, car safety matters or medical expertise. Government suggests that at these points in time the minister may, at the request of the committee, appoint advisers to fill this gap and inform the committee, enabling information and decision making and strengthening the basis of the recommendations made.
The government amendment includes provisions for the appointment of advisers at section 727EB(1) and further amendments regarding the appointment of an adviser. These include amendment at section 727EB(2) requiring the minister to be satisfied the person has the expertise or experience to exercise the functions of an adviser, an amendment at section 727EB(3) stating the conditions of appointment shall be as stated in the appointment, an amendment at section 727EB(4) stating that the role of an adviser is to advise the committee in relation to its functions or in accordance with any conditions of appointment, and an amendment at section 727EB(5) stating that the minister may end an appointment if the adviser breaches a condition of appointment.
While it is not expected that advisers will be regularly requested, inclusion of provisions in the legislation enabling this to occur will facilitate the deliberations and support the outcomes of the committee. The bill proposes provisions at section 727F to enable the ending of a member’s appointment, and this is supported by government and no amendments are proposed.
The bill proposes at section 727G that the committee may request the chief executive administering the Children and Young People Act 2008 to make arrangements to use public servants to assist the committee functions. Government supports reasonable requests from the committee for such staffing and notes that staff will remain subject to the provisions of the Public Sector Management Act 1994 when subject to these arrangements.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (10.23): New sections 727EA and 727EB regard conflict of interest and appointment of advisers. The inclusion of the section addressing conflict of interest provides a clear guideline for the committee chair, committee members and staff around the management of any possible conflict of interest. The committee may, from time to time, require or want information or advice from someone outside the committee and, therefore, the section regarding the appointment of advisers has been added.
Considering the sensitive nature of the information, the Greens agree that the minister should be satisfied that the adviser’s skill set, expertise and understanding of
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